NEW MAPS OF HELL

A review and an analysis of a long held hobby, this holds a strong, if often critical, brief for science fiction, for Amis believes that "to read and to study science fiction are valid and interesting pursuits....." with sociological, psychological and political possibilities. Based on a series of lectures he gave at Princeton, he argues for the addicts and offers a line on the true ancestors of the medium, discusses writers, past and present, investigates the Utopias envisioned and their successes and failures, includes the work in magazines, marks the difference from fantasy, and takes a look at the prospects for this field at this outset of the space age. A discourse of particular interest to the serious followers of science fiction, this has its special place too on the level of literary criticism.